BUFFALO, NY – Numbers released by the Census Bureau estimate the population of Erie County rose by 2,412 in 2017 to just over 925,000 people.
This reflects a gain of only one quarter of one percent, however it is much better news than in recent decades where the county experienced years of population loss.
Erie and Wyoming County (which gained 54 persons) were the only counties in the 8-county region to see growth.
Factoring in the losses of the other six counties, the area still gained 345 people in 2017, according to census estimates.
Moreover, it is estimated that Erie County has gained approximately 6,500 residents since the last official census in 2010, while the Western New York region has experienced a population loss of just over 15,000.
Erie County, like much of New York State, continues to experience an outward domestic migration, meaning people born and raised here, or who have lived and worked here are continuing to leave (some 20,000 in Erie County since 2010).
However, those losses have been tempered by a significant rise in the number foreign immigrants coming into the region, whose ranks have offset the losses of those who have left for greener economic pastures.
While Western New York’s population slide of the late 20th and early 21st centuries appears to have stemmed, the slight (and statistically insignificant) gains being experienced in Erie County and in New York State as a whole, pale in comparison to areas in the south and southwestern portions of the country, which continue to see significant population growth.